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Song Lyrics

Michael From Mountains

by Joni Mitchell

Michael wakes you up with sweets
He takes you up streets and the rain comes down
Sidewalk markets locked up tight
And umbrellas bright on a grey background
There's oil on the puddles in taffeta patterns
That run down the drain
In colored arrangements
That Michael will change with a stick that he found

Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well

Michael brings you to a park
He sings and its dark when the clouds come by
Yellow slickers up on swings
Like puppets on strings hanging in the sky
They'll splash home to suppers in wallpapered kitchens
Their mothers will scold
But Michael will hold you
To keep away cold till the sidewalks are dry

Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well

Michael leads you up the stairs
He needs you to care and you know you do
Cats come crying to the key
And dry you will be in a towel or two
There's rain in the window
There's sun in the painting that smiles on the wall
You want to know all
But his mountains have called so you never do

Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well

Footnotes to Michael From Mountains

Joni introduced the song this way in late 1967:

"Well, I... The same day that I discovered Dr. Junk the Dentist Man, I also discovered what I call a North Carolina tuning because it was uncovered or discovered in NC. Finding this chord was a major musical breakthrough 'cause... Well, one of the reasons I play all in open tunings is because I could never make a good F chord and, uh, (strums) I've always avoided all F's at all cost. And this is an F 9th tuning. Life is full of falling into love and falling out of love, and sometimes when... when things go wrong and love evaporates, it leaves you empty and with nothing and makes you very bitter. Sometimes when love leaves, it leaves really more than it takes away, and that's what this song is all about. It's called "Michael from the Mountains".